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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000494">a matter of time till the flowers bloom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ali_summerset/pseuds/ali_summerset'>ali_summerset</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Korean Drama, Secret Garden (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Because of all of the hype surrounding Hyubin lately it made me want to re-watch my favorite kdrama, F/M, Freeform, High School AU, I don't think anything much would have changed, If Gil Ra-Im's father had lived, Joo Won is 21, Joo Won still would have fallen in love with her, Ra-Im is 17, and I just had to write a fic for it, and introduced Joo Won to Ra-Im like he promised, even if it's not likely anyone will read it, so sort of like if they knew each other earlier AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:29:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000494</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ali_summerset/pseuds/ali_summerset</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>they meet thirteen years earlier than planned but nothing much has changed. Kim Joo-Won still finds himself smitten with Gil Ra-Im. the time may change, but that stays the same.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Joo Won/Gil Ra Im</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a matter of time till the flowers bloom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>When we get out of here, I’ll introduce you to my Ra-Im. She’s so pretty that you’ll faint.</em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>It’s not hard for Joo-Won to request that the firefighter that saved him be treated in the same high-class hospital room as him without the latter knowing. After all, it’s the least he could do.</p><p> </p><p>He’s still being treated for his ankle with Ahjussi – Gil Ik-seon, he later tells him – right beside him, when the hospital doors burst open and a high school girl with a tear streaked face, all but tackles the firefighter he owes his life to.</p><p> </p><p>Ah, this must be the daughter he’s already heard so much about.</p><p> </p><p>He should be more sensitive to her plight. After all, she was a turn of fate away from losing her father, and with that thought, Joo-Won is back in that moment looking at Mr. Gil Ik-seon in that cramped elevator and thinking he’d see someone die in front of him without being able to do anything about it.</p><p> </p><p>But all that comes out of his mouth is –</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, ah, what’s this Ahjussi? You said your daughter would be so pretty that I’d faint. All I can see is an ugly face that’s even uglier when it cries.”</p><p> </p><p>He really doesn’t know why he’s insulting his savior’s daughter, only that he can’t stand to see her cry.</p><p> </p><p>For what it’s worth, it works, because although there are still tear tracks on her face, she glares at him with so much fire in her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>The machines in the hospital must be faulty because he’s suddenly finding it hard to breathe.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>She comes by often – Gil Ra-Im, after her death stare her father had introduced them– a cheerful ‘Appa, I’m here!’ to her dad, and more glares for him.</p><p> </p><p>He has too much respect for Mr. Gil Ik-seon but he can’t help wanting to rile up his daughter, and he doesn’t even know the reason why.</p><p> </p><p>One day she comes by with home made food and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Secretary Kang bring in the high-class hospital food from near the doorway. He shooes the man away with his eyes when she’s not looking and whines about not having food.</p><p> </p><p>“What, none for me? I’m a sick man you know. Shouldn’t you be feeding me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you really too poor that you can’t even afford your own meals?” is her tart response.</p><p> </p><p>“What?!” If only she knew who he was…”You can’t treat me that way. If only you knew who I was, later on you’d say ‘Oh I was actually in the same room as that guy!’, that’s what you’d say.”</p><p> </p><p>“Now, now Ra-Im, let’s share some of our food. Don’t deprive me of the chance to boast about my daughter’s cooking!”</p><p> </p><p>She’s disgruntled but follows her father’s orders. He pretends he can’t even lift his arms and opens up his mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Ahhh…”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re crazy if you think I’ll feed you! Do you want your fifth vertebrae to become your sixth!?”</p><p> </p><p>“What? You can’t be violent against a sick person.”</p><p> </p><p>“Now, now, Ra-Im…”</p><p> </p><p>She eventually does it, hand-feeding him, but it would have been better without that disgusted look on her face. Now, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Joo-Won has eaten from five star restaurants, dishes prepared with the finest ingredients and the most skilled of chefs, and yet this meal prepared by this ordinary girl, there’s no other word for it. It’s –</p><p> </p><p>“Delicious.”</p><p> </p><p>She looks skeptical at first, but he keeps his face serious, and then he’s rewarded with the most brilliant smile.</p><p> </p><p>“Really? It’s really delicious?” She giggles for once looking like the high school girl she is, and with her sparkling eyes, he can finally see what Ahjussi meant.</p><p> </p><p>For once in his twenty-one years of existence, he’s struck dumb.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>He drives them both home personally – waving off Secretary Kang’s concerns that his ankle wasn’t well enough and that his mother would kill him for letting him drive in his condition, but that’s Secretary Kang’s problem, not his. He drives them both to a run-down place, the kind you see on the background of one of those National Geographic documentaries, and he thinks this isn’t right.</p><p> </p><p>Shouldn’t someone have been by to compensate the Gil family already? He thinks, even a new house wouldn’t be enough.</p><p> </p><p>They invite him in and though he doesn’t even know anyone personally who rents, he can’t find it in himself to say no.</p><p> </p><p>He remedies it the next day, presenting new appliances – vacuum cleaner, washing machine, flat screen TV, the works – on their doorstep with a flourish. They’re all from grandfather’s department store so it wasn’t much.</p><p> </p><p>By their astounded faces, he can tell he’s shocked them; yes this is who he really is – scion and future CEO of Loel Department Store – not some mooching patient.</p><p> </p><p>Discreetly, he looks at Gil Ra-Im’s face, but his satisfaction is short-lived as her surprise turns to consternation.</p><p> </p><p>Ahjussi speaks first. “Joo-Won…We appreciate the gesture, we really do, but I didn’t save your life so I could get all of this.”</p><p> </p><p>He knows this, and he knows whatever he’s giving them doesn’t even compare.</p><p> </p><p>Later on, even Ra-Im pulls him aside.</p><p> </p><p>“For Appa, whether you’re some bigshot son of a wealthy family or even if you were some homeless man with tacky tastes in track suits (‘Listen you…!’), a life is a life that’s precious. And also he told me what happened. He said you saved him and that you wouldn’t let go. I should thank you for that. Kamsahamnida!”</p><p> </p><p>She bows formally and Joo-Won is a confused mess of emotions. What is she acting all shy for now after hitting him constantly for his annoying comments in the hospital? It leaves him giddy seeing her act cute, but also apprehensive because it seems like they’re distant strangers.</p><p> </p><p>Why must the Gil family be so hard to thank?</p><p> </p><p>“Well if there’s one thing you could do for me, I was wanting to watch my daughter’s Taekwondo match. Would you want to come with me?”</p><p> </p><p>If playing chauffeur is the only thanks they’ll accept, then Joo-Won will take what he can get.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Gil Ra-Im is a marvel of motion and deathly grace. She brings down men twice her size with ease. Sweat flows off her brow with every kick and strike.</p><p> </p><p>Joo-Won can’t even blink. It looks like she’s sparkling. He is fascinated, enraptured, captivated.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s my daughter,” says Ahjussi with pride.</p><p> </p><p>She must be a health hazard and no one told him. Why else does she make it so hard for him to breathe? At this rate, he really will faint.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Hey Ji-Hyun, what does it mean that I can’t take my eyes off of someone who could probably break every bone in my body? You know me I prefer the intellectual type. And what does it mean that I actually look forward to when she hits me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, we haven’t even broken up for more than four months and here you go talking about another girl in front of me.”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re the one who dumped me.” Joo-Won points out helpfully.</p><p> </p><p><em>‘It’s not as if you look that broken up about it’</em> Ji-Hyun thinks, but doesn’t say. “We’re better off as friends.”</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, if I thought you actually had the capacity for it, I’d think you were in love.”</p><p> </p><p>Joo-Won snorts in disbelief.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>He offers to drive her to her school since it’s on the way to his University. He opens the door and tells her to get in.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you really crazy? What would people think if I was driven to school in a sports car. No thanks. I’ll ride the bus.”</p><p> </p><p>“Most high school girls would go ‘kyaaa’ at this rare opportunity. You’d be the envy of everyone, having a handsome university student like me drive you to school.“</p><p> </p><p>At that, she just rolls her eyes, leaves him gaping as she gets on the bus.</p><p> </p><p>The one time she agrees because she was running late, she demands to drive, and again Joo-Won doesn’t know what compels him to entrust his precious car’s keys to her, but it’s one experience he never wants to relieve again.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ever. </em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>With the pretext of paying back his debt, he visits them often, Ahjussi and Gil Ra-Im</p><p> </p><p>“I’m very exacting about these things.”</p><p> </p><p>Ra-Im rarely accepts getting driven to places and forget about handing Ahjussi any money. Instead he pays for when they go out to eat rinds, much to his disgust.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t melt it. Chew it and swallow like a man.”</p><p> </p><p>Funnily enough, it’s Gil Ra-Im who constantly says that while Ahjussi just laughs at him.</p><p> </p><p>He wonders how many rind sessions it’ll be but they pay for the meals as many times as he does, not to mention he always has a place at their table whenever he drops by for dinner. At this rate, paying the debt is slow-going, but Joo-Won finds he doesn’t mind.</p><p> </p><p>One night, he doesn’t realize how much time has passed and how many soju they’d consumed. Maybe it’s not his place to say but –</p><p> </p><p>“Ahjussi, should Ra-Im really be drinking?”</p><p> </p><p>Ra-Im scowls at him as expected but Ahjussi just laughs good-naturedly. “It’s medicinal, don’t worry.”</p><p> </p><p>Joo-Won raises an eyebrow at that but lets it go, long ago accepting that he’ll never understand the workings of the Gil family.</p><p> </p><p>It’s really late and he’s drunk, so Ahjussi doesn’t let him go home and offers him a place to sleep in their living room. Again, Joo-Won has only slept on silk sheets and down pillows imported from Europe, but he still accepts the offer.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait for a bit, I’ll just bring Ra-Im to her room.”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry Ahjussi, let me do it.” Joo-Won picks her up easily, and for all of her tough talk, she weighs as light as a feather. He places her on her bed and places her stuffed toys near her. If he’s staring at her for a bit too long, well that’s just because he’s drunk. There’s a furrow in her eyebrow that makes his own furrow so he eases it away with his finger until her face rests peacefully again.</p><p> </p><p>A soft smile touches his own features though he doesn’t notice it.</p><p> </p><p>“Sweet dreams, Ra-Im.”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Joo-won’s body is in a jacuzzi pool in Deoksan but his mind is in a run-down apartment in Seoul. In his mouth is the taste of caviar, but he can’t help but wish for the taste of home-made tteokbokki. Physically he is present, laughing while being surrounded by pretty girls near his ideal sizes, but in his mind he can’t help but criticize.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Her skin is too smooth and fair. A bit darker would be nice. </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Her hair is too long, a bob cut would be more chic.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Her legs are too thin. It’d be better if she had more muscle. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>One of the said pretty girls caresses his arm. “Isn’t this fun, Joo-Won?” Her eyes don’t sparkle.</p><p> </p><p>Joo-Won thinks of arguing over rinds, watching some late night drama, a hand on his shoulder and a curt but sweet voice, as they both tell him to take care in going home and drive safely.</p><p> </p><p>The girl is waiting for a response. He smiles blankly. “Yeah, it’s fun.”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Choi Woo-young has been a thorn at his side at worst and an annoying Hyung at best. But never before has he had this visceral feeling of wanting to bury him where he could never be found. Until now.</p><p> </p><p>“A fan you say? Why, my dongsae should’ve have introduced us sooner so I would’ve found out I had such a charming fan!”</p><p> </p><p>“Never on your life,” mutters Joo-Won under his breath.</p><p> </p><p>In the first place, they only found themselves in this situation because Woo-young was following him.</p><p> </p><p>“I was only worried about you!”</p><p> </p><p>“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”</p><p> </p><p>He never wanted for them to meet anyway, but to make matters worse Gil Ra-Im is apparently a fan of ‘Oska’.</p><p> </p><p>This is the first time he’s seen her this way. Ra-Im has stars in her eyes and is honestly twirling her hair and popping her foot like in a classic Hollywood movie. It’s sickening. If there’s anyone who should see her like that, it should only be him.</p><p> </p><p>“Can I call you Oppa?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course!”</p><p> </p><p>“Hyung, if you don’t leave in three seconds, I’ll leak to the media outlets some very interesting photos I have. An artist just beginning his music career wouldn’t want that kind of scandal right?”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re a demon.”</p><p> </p><p>“2 seconds.”</p><p> </p><p>After he’s finally, <em>finally</em>, left, Joo-Won doesn’t waste time. He whirls on Ra-Im, face livid.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Oppa?!</em> I should be the one. You should be calling me, Joo-Won Oppa!” He knows he sounds childish, but he doesn’t care.</p><p> </p><p>“Never.” She has the gall to stick out her tongue at him. No, no way. She had no right to act this cute after what she just pulled.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Later after Choi Woo-young gets to know Ra-Im better - much to Joo-Won’s frustration- he pulls him aside to talk to him.</p><p> </p><p>For once Joo-Won actually listens because his Hyung never sounds this serious.</p><p> </p><p>“I wasn’t joking when I said I was worried. Your friends say you haven’t been around much lately. What kind of healthy twenty-one year old doesn’t go to parties? You should be having the best time of your life. Is it the accident? Are there still some side-effects?”</p><p> </p><p>Joo-Won waves off his Hyung’s concerns. “I’m fine. There’s no need to make a fuss.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well it looks like it. You seem happier and more, I don’t know if peaceful is the word. So, where have you been lately?”</p><p> </p><p>“You know that fireman who saved me? The girl you met, Gil Ra-Im, that’s his daughter. I’ve just been visiting them.”</p><p> </p><p>“So I’ve heard. Whenever we meet, Miss Ra-Im is always complaining about you sticking around. She’s said it’s like they’ve adopted a stray dog or something.” He laughs boisterously. What Woo-young doesn’t tell Joo-Won though is how Miss Ra-Im looked when she said it, contented, with a secret smile on her face. His Dongsae’s head doesn’t need to get bigger than it is.</p><p> </p><p>Predictably, Joo-Won fumes, “That brat…!”</p><p> </p><p>“So does that mean you? And her?” Woo-young leaves it open-ended, free for Joo-Won to interpret however he sees fit.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you talking about Hyung?” He laughs, but it only sounds fake to Woo-young’s ears. “I’m just playing around with her.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll tell on you!” He can’t believe what he’s hearing.</p><p> </p><p>“Go ahead. It won’t make a difference to her.”</p><p> </p><p>For all that this is nothing new for Joo-Won, careless as he is with other people’s feelings, Woo-young wouldn’t be so worried if this was a ‘playing around’ that he recognized.</p><p> </p><p>When Joo-Won played around, it involved candle lit dinners and expensive dates. Woo-young doesn’t recognize this playing around that involves him visiting a girl and her father, and having meals with them. Woo-young sincerely wonders if Joo-Won even recognizes the painful domesticity of it.</p><p> </p><p>As a Hyung, he can’t help but worry.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Ahjussi texts him to ask for a favor, probably the only one he has ever asked of him.</p><p> </p><p>Ah-young is out on a trip so could he stay with Ra-Im for tonight since it looks like he’ll be late in coming home. (He’s met Ah-young, Ra-Im’s best friend once before. She exclaimed ‘omo, omo’ and shook Ra-Im’s shoulder excitedly when they’d met. That is how girls react when meeting him. Ra-Im is just a strange and fascinating anomaly.)</p><p> </p><p>He was expecting a scowl to greet him when she opened the door. He’d actually revel in it. Instead what he gets is a split second where her face falls when she realizes it isn’t her dad at the door. That hurt more.</p><p> </p><p>She tries to keep herself together, pretending everything is normal, throwing insults his way, and yet preparing his meal for him. But Joo-Won can see right through her. He’ll take angry Ra-Im, annoyed Ra-Im, a fawning Ra-Im any day over this withdrawn and scared girl. It reminds him of when they first met.</p><p> </p><p>He plays along with the motions. He says something that makes her throw a punch, an insult no doubt, but he misses his cue, because instead of avoiding it, as he would’ve done, he catches it, and pulls her in for a tight hug.</p><p> </p><p>She struggles, though even that is weak.</p><p> </p><p>“I understand that you’re worried.” He whispers it on her hair, and hugs her tighter. She stops trying to escape. “I’m worried too. But I’m here. You’re not alone. We’ll wait for him together.”</p><p> </p><p>How can he explain to her? That moment that he saw in her father’s eyes that he was willing to let go because he would be dragging Joo-Won down with him. It was just a flip of a chance, but there could’ve been a world where Ra-Im was without a father and it’d all be his fault. So though he doesn’t understand this obnoxious, infuriating, astounding, precious girl half the time, he can confidently say, he understands what she’s going through right at this moment.</p><p> </p><p>Miracle of miracles, she hugs him back, tight as he is hugging her.</p><p> </p><p>It slips out.</p><p> </p><p>“I love you with all my heart.”</p><p> </p><p>She stills.</p><p> </p><p>“Your father wanted me to pass his words on to you.”</p><p> </p><p>And relaxes.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Joo-Won is the opposite. Because those may have been her father’s words, but the emotion behind it is all his.</p><p> </p><p>They don’t eat dinner yet. Knees drawn, her fisted hand enclosed in his, and his thumb running soothing circles over it, they wait together.</p><p> </p><p>They wait together, and pray for rain.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Would your father have liked me?</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Definitely not. What kind of father would like a guy who always looks down on his daughter and makes her cry. </em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Gil Ik-seon likes Kim Joo-Won. The boy has good intentions even if he goes the wrong way about it. He’s insistent on thanking him and standing by his principles no matter what those principles may be.</p><p> </p><p>But more importantly, he likes Kim Joo-Won because he loves Ra-Im. The most precious thing in the world to Gil Ik-seon is his daughter. And because Ra-Im is the most precious to him, he likes Kim Joo-Won.</p><p> </p><p>For all of Ra-Im’s scathing words against him, Kim Joo-Won makes it so her sad eyes aren’t so sad anymore, even if as a result they become angry instead.</p><p> </p><p>But often she’ll also ask, “Is moron coming by over today Appa? I need to know if I need to make extra servings.” She says it as if it was too troublesome to do so, but he still catches her small smile whenever Joo-Won drops by.</p><p> </p><p>So Gil Ik-Seon likes Kim Joo-Won, and he’s sure Ra-Im likes him too.</p><p> </p>
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